


Never Underestimate A Girl

by Starbooks13



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: All the Badass Women Feels, Also Completely AU to TDW, Also Soon To Feature Melinda May, Also a guest appearance by Teddy Altman, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And IM3 Destroyed My First Draft, BAMF!Jane, BAMF!Maria, BAMF!Natasha, BAMF!Pepper, Basically Completely AU After IM3, Because She's A Badass, Because Winter Soldier Destroyed Everything, Because my BFF loves Young Avengers, Even Amora, F/M, Girls Saving The Day, IM3 Spoilers, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki Won't Know What Hit Him, Love Potion/Spell, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Now Featuring Harley Keener, Now with Agents of SHIELD AU Elements, Seriously all these women are BAMFs, Warning: Loki, Women Being Awesome, bamf!Betty, bamf!darcy, because he's adorable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-10 12:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starbooks13/pseuds/Starbooks13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Currently AU for everything after IM3.  The Enchantress helps Loki escape from Asgard and uses her magic to enslave the male Avengers, Coulson, and Fury.  Now it's up to the girls to save the day before Loki's evil plan to take control of SHIELD and turn the world against the Avengers succeeds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Enchantress

**Author's Note:**

> This is for a prompt on AvengerKink which basically asked for a fic with this plot. I should know, I made the original post. ;) I decided to repost the story here since A) it's getting too long in the planning stages and B) I wanted to alter some of the formatting from the original AvengerKink posts. I will attempt to update as reasonably as I can, but considering what originally ended up happening with this fic, I can make no promises. I hope you all enjoy it anyway!

                As he would later discover while dealing with the massive amounts of paperwork generated by the incident, Agent Phil Coulson was their first target.

                It was your average Friday evening at SHIELD’s ground-based HQ in New York, a few blocks away from Stark Tower.  It was about 8 pm, and the building was starting to empty—even SHIELD agents needed sleep.  Well, except for Coulson, who as usual had a pile of paperwork the height of the Empire State Building sitting on his desk.  

                He sighed and rubbed his eyes at the thought of the sleepless night ahead.  He had agreed to do the Avengers’ individual paperwork for the Latverian mission after they all arrived back in the States in various stages of injury and exhaustion.  They had all dealt with worse, but Steve’s slightly dead eyes, the bruises covering Tony’s body once they’d gotten the armor off, and Bruce’s broken arm signaled loud and clear that the team desperately needed some downtime.  Even Fury had understood that, grounding them in New York for a solid week.

                Letting out another sigh, Coulson reached for the next form.  The Avengers were a pain, but they were his pain.  He wouldn’t want anyone else taking care of this for them.

                Without warning, a slim, distinctly feminine arm clad in green swept across his line of vision, knocking over the stack of papers.  As the room was filled with flying forms, Coulson swore, leaping up from his chair and reaching for his sidearm.  “What the hell-?”

                Two small, but surprisingly strong hands reached over his desk to grab the lapels of his suit jacket and yank him closer.  Coulson sucked in a startled breath at the stunningly beautiful face that hovered before him: blond hair floating around her head like a cloud of pure gold, emerald green eyes that reminded him strongly of Romanoff’s, and a smirk on her perfect lips.  She was dressed entirely in green, with some sort of headpiece framing her face—and Coulson immediately recognized the style of her clothing.  

                “You’re from Asgard,” he said as calmly as he could, his mind desperately trying to process what on earth was going on.

                The smirk got bigger.  “Indeed I am, Son of Coul.” Her voice was low and sensual, raw feminine sexuality in audio form. Her use of Thor’s endearment for him sent a slight shiver down his spine.  The only way she would know that name is if she knew Thor.  Or his brother…

                He tried to reach for his gun again, but found himself unable to move.  Magic, it had to be.  To say this was not good would be a drastic understatement.  “What do you want?”

                She leaned in closer, her lips hovering over his.  “Isn’t it obvious?” she said softly, for his ears alone.  “I’m here for you.”

                She kissed him, and Coulson registered two things.  One: this was the best damn kiss he’d ever gotten in his entire life, and that included the op where he and Romanoff had been forced to pretend to be a couple (she’d kill him if she knew he still fantasized about that kiss sometimes). Two: the kiss was doing something to him. He felt weak, as though he should be toppling over, but he was still standing upright, still kissing her back, even as his vision began to blur and darken.  

                Just before he lost consciousness, he heard her voice ringing in his head.  “One down, six to go.”

                After that, he didn’t remember anything at all.


	2. A Hill of Trouble

                Agent Maria Hill arrived at Director Fury’s office at 8:15 pm sharp, only to witness a stunningly gorgeous blonde agent exiting the office.  Maria frowned.  She had never seen the other woman before—and she would definitely remember if she had.  Once the beautiful agent was gone, Maria entered the office to see the director of SHIELD sitting behind his desk with his head propped up in his hands, a dreamy smile on his face, and a far-away look in his eye.  

                Okay.  She’d seen her fair share of strange things since joining SHIELD, but this was officially the strangest. “Sir?” she asked.  “Are you alright?”

                Fury sighed—actually sighed, which was incredibly disturbing to say the least—before replying.  “Oh, I’m more than alright, Agent Hill.  I feel better than I have in a long, and I mean long, time.”

                “Oh, well, that’s…good to hear.”  This was completely unlike her boss.  Fury wasn’t an emotionless bastard, as some of the younger agents believed, but he was not particularly…”sentimental” seemed like the best word to describe his current mood.  Realizing that she was staring, Maria quickly composed herself and deposited the bundle of papers she’d been carrying onto his desk.  “Here are the latest reports, sir, as requested.”

                He straightened and took the first report off the top of the pile, his expression returning to a resemblance of its usual seriousness.  But the corners of his mouth were turned up, and he still had that look in his eye.  “Ah, thank you.  You can go now.”

                Maria remained where she was, studying her boss.  “Sir, are you-” She paused, searching for the right words.  He had said he was fine, but in her book acting out of character meant that you were definitely not okay.  But why was he like this all of a sudden?  She had seen him only a half-hour earlier, and nothing had been wrong then. The image of the beautiful blonde agent flashed through her mind.  She must have something to do with this.   “Sir, who was that woman?  The agent who was here before me.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her around HQ.”

                Fury’s eye shot to her face, all traces of sentimentality gone.  This was the Fury she knew—but wearing his “pissed off at incompetent subordinate” face.  “She’s a new recruit.  That’s all you need to know, Hill.”

                Maria snapped to attention—an instinctual response to Fury’s anger cultivated over years of working under him.   He always appreciated a show of respect, especially since he started having to deal with Tony Stark.  “Apologies, sir.  I was merely curious.”

                Fury gave her a look of pure disdain before turning back to the reports.  “Yeah, well, take your curiosity somewhere else.  Now.”

                Shocked, Maria slowly backed out of the office, watching her boss as she went.  What on earth was going on?  Yes, he could be brisk sometimes, and when she screwed up he got angry with her, but he’d never looked at her like that before.  She felt like another idiotic office grunt instead of Fury’s trusted second-in-command.  

                She closed the door, mind racing. Something was very wrong here.  She just needed to figure out what.  And she had a pretty good idea where to start.

                Determined, Maria spun on her heel and headed off to find Fury’s mysterious new recruit.


	3. Heavy Lifting

                Dr. Betty Ross pulled on her coat and grabbed her purse, more than ready to head home.  It was 8:30, long past her usual quitting time, and it had been a hard week on top of that.  Now there was just one more thing she needed to take care of: making sure Bruce actually _went_ home.  He had an unfortunate tendency to stay up all night working in his lab, which had only gotten worse once he had Tony around to encourage him.  With his arm broken from the mission to Latveria, he needed rest now more than ever.

                At least Tony was with Pepper at some gala tonight; that would make Betty’s job easier.  Maybe she could even convince Bruce to come with her to grab a late-night snack.  Their relationship had been in some sort of limbo ever since she started working for SHIELD against her father’s express wishes.  It was the first time she and Bruce had been in any sort of regular contact since before “the Other Guy,” as Bruce preferred to call him, and things had been…considerably tenser than when she’d briefly been on the run with him. 

                She knew he loved her, and he knew that she loved him.  She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but he was still afraid.  Afraid of what “the Other Guy” might do to her, even though they both knew that his angry green side loved her just as much as he did.  There was also the fact that he had control over said angry green side now, which really should render any and all problems moot.  But she understood that Bruce wanted to take things slow.  She was willing to wait as long as it took for him to be ready—although, hopefully it wouldn’t take _that_ long.

                She walked down the hall, thankful that she and Bruce had labs in the same section of SHIELD’s R&D department.   However, when she rounded the corner towards Bruce’s lab, she was surprised to see a stunningly gorgeous blonde agent leaving the room.  She had never seen the woman before—she was certainly not one of the agents Director Fury usually sent to keep an eye on Bruce.  Furthermore, after official closing hours Bruce was normally unsupervised, since most of SHIELD’s ground-level HQ was deserted by now.  Something wasn’t right.

                Betty practically sprinted down the hall and into Bruce’s lab.  “Bruce?  Bruce, it’s Betty, is everything okay?”

                “Betty…” If her heart had not been racing before, it was doing a marathon now.  Bruce’s voice was strained in the way it only was when he was on the verge of losing control.

                When the Hulk was about to come out and play.

                Acting purely on instinct, Betty ran straight towards Bruce, who was curled in a ball on the floor near his desk, skin rapidly turning green.  As she did, she yanked a syringe out of her purse.  Her first project upon joining SHIELD was a joint assignment with Bruce and several of SHIELD’s top chemists and biologists to develop a tranquilizer strong enough to knock out the Hulk.  While they failed that particular objective, they did succeed in creating a tranquilizer guaranteed to knock Bruce out while he was on the verge of transforming, keeping him in his human form.  It was based on Samuel Sterns’ research into curing Bruce, and Betty did not want to know how SHIELD had acquired it.

                The tranq’s limited supply was kept closely guarded, but Bruce and Betty each always had some on hand in case of an emergency.  This, in Betty’s mind, definitely qualified as an emergency.  Without hesitating, she jumped on top of Bruce and jabbed the syringe into his neck.  He threw her off, but she did not go flying across the room, instead ending up sprawled on her back a few feet away.  Good; that meant she’d gotten the tranq into him in time.  Sure enough, when she rolled over to look at him the green tint was fading from his skin, and his eyes were closed in slumber.  She winced when she saw how trashed his cast was; she hoped his arm hadn’t been damaged further.

                “What the hell is going on?”  Betty whirled to see Agent Maria Hill, SHIELD’s Deputy Director and Fury’s right-hand woman, standing in the doorway of the lab, a look of panic on her face.

                Betty groaned and pushed herself to her feet.  “I don’t know.”  She moved to kneel over Bruce, checking his pulse and his arm.  “I was coming to get Bruce out of the lab, and I saw a female agent leaving-”

                Hill’s voice was suddenly sharp, focused.  “Was she blonde?”

                Betty whipped her head around to look at Hill.  “Yes.  How did you-?”

                “I’ll explain later.”  She hurried over to kneel beside Betty.  “I see you tranqed him in time.”

                Betty sighed with relief.  “Yes, and thank God his arm’s in no worse shape.”  She grimaced.  “He’ll definitely need a new cast, though, but Medical’s out for the day.”

                Hill moved to get Bruce into a sitting position, and Betty quickly helped her.  “I’ve set broken bones before on field ops.  Help me get him to my office, and we can patch him up.”

                Betty nodded.  “We need to get him back to Stark Tower.  Let him sleep off the tranq.”

                The two women managed to carefully get Bruce on his feet—or as much as he could be when he was unconscious.  “I’ll help you take him,” Hill offered.  “But then I’ve got to get back.”  Her expression darkened.  “I want to find that woman and get some answers out of her.”

                “If I didn’t have an unconscious boyfriend to attend to, I’d help,” Betty replied.  “I’d like to know what she did that made Bruce nearly Hulk-out.”

                “You and me both.”

                Betty glanced at Hill.  She didn’t know the female agent very well—Hill tended to keep her distance from the Avengers.  However, she was willing to help Betty take care of Bruce, and for that, Betty was grateful.  “Would you mind if we swung by my apartment?  I’d like to grab some things so I can spend the night.”

                Hill nodded.  “Sure thing.”  She grunted as they started trying to drag Bruce out of the lab.  “Geez, I had no idea Banner was this heavy.”

                Betty grinned.  “You should try sleeping with the Hulk’s arm over you.”


	4. Party's Over

                If Pepper Potts still had the Extremis virus pumping through her system, both her genius billionaire philanthropist boyfriend and the blonde bimbo in green that was flirting with him would be incinerated.  Though she had to give Tony a little credit; he wasn’t exactly flirting back.  She was just still angry enough from their earlier fight that she was willing to incinerate him too, just for not trying harder to get away from her.  

                He was building the suits again.  She had known he would eventually, but not so soon.  It had only been six months since the Mandarin incident.  It didn’t matter that the new suits were coded to her DNA as well, or that Tony had given her override power on JARVIS to keep him from going out of control.  She had naively believed it would be years before Tony was ready to be Iron Man again, and not only was he making more suits, he’d been hiding that fact from her.  She’d found out right before they’d left for the gala, and they’d had an explosive fight.  Once they’d arrived at the party, Tony had avoided her like the plague, and now this was happening.  

                If she didn’t know better—or at least, she thought she knew better—she would say Tony was doing this just to get back at her.  She’d never even seen this woman before.  How did she get in?  Pepper would have remembered if she was on the guest list.  She had told Happy to ease up a little, but not this much.  She would definitely have to talk to him later.

                Rhodey walked up in his dress blues.  He’d wrangled a small leave to attend the gala, but he had to go back to LA as soon as the party was over.  “Damn,” he said on seeing the blonde, letting out a low whistle.  “Why does Tony get all the hot girls?”  He smiled at Pepper.  “Present company included.”

                Pepper sighed.  “Thanks for trying, Rhodey.”

                He shrugged.  “I do my best.  Though, seriously, who is she?”

                “I don’t know.”  Pepper frowned.  “I really, really hope she’s not another one of Tony’s ex-one-night-stands.”

                Rhodey shook his head.  “No way.  Tony would have hung on to a girl like that for more than just one night.”  Pepper shot him a look and he winced.  “Wrong thing to say, yeah?”

                “You’d better believe it,” Pepper said harshly, her blood boiling a little at the sight of the blonde trying to plaster herself all over Tony.  “I don’t believe this.  He’s not even trying to get away from her.”

                “Calm down, Pep.  He’s trying to be polite.”

                “Well, she’s clearly not getting the message.”

                Then the blonde grabbed Tony’s face and full-on kissed him.  Pepper was 90% sure there was tongue involved.  And her heart broke, just a little bit, when after a moment of shock Tony started fervently kissing her back.  In front of everyone at the party.

                Rhodey’s eyes blazed.  “What the hell does he think he’s doing?”

                Pepper should feel something right now.  Anger, hurt, humiliation.  But all three prospects were so overwhelming that, combined with everything that had already happened that day, she just went numb.  “Take me home, Rhodey.”

                “But what about-?”

                “I’ll deal with him in the morning.  Just get me out of here.” And oh, would she deal with him.  Anthony Edward Stark was going to pay dearly for this.


	5. How To Lose A Super Soldier In Five Minutes Or Less

                Darcy Lewis took a long pull from her beer bottle and sighed.  “C’mon, Steve, it’s really not that hard.”

                Steve frowned at the beer in his hand, not looking at her.  “Believe me, Darcy, I’ve tried.  Even post-serum I’m hopeless with women.”

                “You? Hopeless?”  Darcy glanced around the bar she’d dragged Steve to in an attempt to get him out of the Tower.  He’d been shut up there since the team got back from Latveria, steadily smashing through their month’s supply of punching bags.  But now her “get-Steve-back-into-the-world” mission had turned into a “get-Steve-hooked-up-mission”—which had the same end result, being cheering Steve up.  This funk he was stuck in wasn’t good for him.  Plus, Pepper was snapping at Tony about the punching bag budget and those two did not need any more excuses to fight lately. “Seriously, Steve, every single woman in this bar has checked you out at least once since we walked in.”

                Darcy’s eyes zoomed in on one woman in particular: a drop-dead gorgeous blonde wearing a green dress and matching heels.  She gestured in the woman’s direction.  “That one hasn’t been able to take her eyes off you.” Steve followed her line of sight and turned bright red.  The woman smiled at him and gave him a little “come-hither” motion.  “Dude, she totally wants to talk to you,” Darcy exclaimed.  This was perfect! “Get over there!”

                Steve whirled to face her, face turning even redder.  “Darcy, I can’t!”

                She rolled her eyes.  “Of course you can.”  Seeing the panic on his face, she adjusted her strategy.  Softening her expression, Darcy took his hand.  “Steve, you are one of the most genuinely nice, gentleman-y guys I have ever met.  Women _love_ guys like that.  And if she doesn’t like what she gets, then it’s her problem, not yours.”  She smiled.  “Just give it a shot.  For me? Please?”

                Steve’s face was still red, but he tentatively smiled back.  “O-okay, I guess I can do that for a friend.”

                Darcy squealed and propelled him off his bar stool.  “Well, then what are you waiting for?  Go get her, Captain Charming!”

                Squaring his shoulders as though preparing to march into battle, Steve walked over to the woman.  While Darcy couldn’t hear what they were saying above the din of the bar, she watched Steve clumsily introduce himself.  The woman’s smile, though, was kind and understanding, and she must have told him her name too, because then they were shaking hands.  After that, Steve looked much more relaxed, and things seemed to be going just fine.  Thus, when nature called a couple minutes later, Darcy felt confident enough in Steve to answer it.  Leaving her now-empty bottle at their table, she headed to the restroom, leaving Steve and the woman in deep conversation.

                When she came back, however, Steve was gone.  As in, “no-longer-in-the-bar-anywhere” gone—she would know, she tore the place apart looking for him.  And so was the woman.  Darcy would have been happy for her friend, except Steve wasn’t that kind of guy.  He wouldn’t vanish on her with another woman, even if she was smoking hot and totally into him.  Something was wrong.

                Darcy walked outside and dialed Steve’s cell.  She sighed in relief when he answered.  “Steve Rogers here.”

                “Steve, it’s Darcy. Where are you?  You just kinda vanished on me.”

                “Oh, Darcy, sorry, I forgot.”  He at least had the decency to sound sheepish.  “Amora asked me to take her home.”

                Darcy frowned.  “Amora?  Is that who you were talking to?”

                “Yes.  She said she was about to leave and she didn’t feel safe going home by herself.”

                Well, that made sense.  And of course Steve would have offered to help; he was a sucker for damsels in distress, just like Thor.  But something still seemed off.  “Why didn’t you tell me?  You could have at least let me know before you left.  That’s not like you, Steve.”

                “Oh, geez, Darcy, I’m really sorry.”  He sighed.  “Look, I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.  But I have to go now, Amora’s waiting for me.”

                “Okay, but you’d better, mister!” Darcy had barely finished talking before Steve hung up on her.  She stared at her phone.  Steve always at least said goodbye.  Something was definitely up.

                She quickly hailed a cab.  She needed to get back to Stark Tower and get to the bottom of this.


	6. Where Light Is Blind

                Jane Foster dabbed at the corner of her eye as she and Thor exited the Majestic Theater.  “Gah, that ending gets me every time.”

                Thor nodded.  “Aye.  That was…surprisingly lovely.  I am glad the Lady Darcy and the Lady Pepper obtained these tickets for us.”

                Jane smiled up at her godly boyfriend.  “I’m glad you had a good time.  I was worried you wouldn’t like it.”

                Thor shrugged his massive shoulders.  “I will admit that it would not be my first choice for entertainment.  But I found myself drawn in nevertheless.”

                Jane sighed and wrapped her arms around Thor’s bicep.  God, how lucky was she?  Not only was her boyfriend a literal god, but he was chivalrous, considerate, and liked _The Phantom of the Opera_ , “the ultimate in musical theater chick-lit” as Darcy and Tony called it.  Ever since the Bifrost had been repaired, Thor had visited Earth regularly and done his absolute best to sweep her off her feet.  By now he had more than made up for not seeing her when he came back after Loki.

                No, no, no.  She would not think about He-Who-No-One-Named-Around-Thor.  This was her night out with her boyfriend after he’d gotten back from a particularly rough mission and no thoughts of mad Asgardian-raised Jotun sorcerer-princes were going to disrupt it.

                Of course, that was when Thor suddenly stiffened beside her.  “Thor?” she asked, glancing up at him.  

                “It cannot be,” Thor said, almost too quietly for Jane to hear.  He abruptly pulled away from her, scanning the crowds around them as though looking for someone.

                “Thor, what’s wrong?”

                He froze, his gazed fixed across the street.  He let loose a fierce growl.  “By the Nine, whatever she has planned will not succeed!”

                “Thor!” Jane cried, moving in front of him.  “What is going on?”

                “Jane, you must go back to the Tower, now!” His tone brokered no disagreement.  “You will be in terrible danger if you remain here.”

                A normal person would be scared by that.  But Jane had long since stopped being scared of the villains her boyfriend dealt with on a daily basis.  She skipped straight to pissed off.  “Oh, no.  You do not get to mysteriously run off on our date night after some “she” without an explanation.”

                “I will explain later, I promise.  But now you need to leave and I need to find her.”   With that Thor took off, hand extended as though to summon Mjolnir.

                “Thor!” Jane tried to run after him, but the post-theater crowds quickly devoured him.  Within minutes, Jane had no idea where he had gone.  She looked around for Mjolnir flying over people’s heads, but the hammer never appeared.

                Beginning to get scared now, Jane pulled out her phone and called the Tower.  To her surprise, Tony picked up.  “Jane, hey, how was chick-lit-theater night?”

                “Tony, what are you doing back?  I thought the gala—“

                “Pep and I cut out early.”  Tony’s voice was short, irritated, and made it very clear that he and Pepper were still fighting.  Jane felt a brief pang of pity for both of them before she got herself back on topic.

                “Nevermind, then.  Has Thor contacted you?  He just vanished looking for some woman he saw.  He told me to come back, said I was in danger.”

                “Well, then you should probably come back, then, huh?”

                Jane was a bit taken aback.  Tony wasn’t usually this purely sarcastic when a team member might be in trouble.  “I-I guess, but could you guys please check on him?  Make sure he’s okay?  Did Mjolnir leave the Tower at all?”

                “I’m sure he’s fine.  He’s a big boy, he can handle himself.  See you back here in a few.”  Then Tony hung up.

                Jane started, staring at her phone.  Tony Stark was often dismissive, but never towards her, especially when she had a legitimate concern like this.  Coupled with Thor’s strange behavior, Jane had a feeling that something was very, very wrong.

                She dialed the number Pepper had given her for a cab service back to the Tower.  If Tony wouldn’t check on Thor, she’d have JARVIS do it for her the minute she got back.  Thor may be able to take care of himself, but she would not risk losing him again.


	7. Stranger Danger

                Clint Barton watched from the second floor as his partner danced in the middle of the club, alone in the press of bodies.  Clubbing was one of the few times she let her guard down, and just like the other times, it was only when she had backup—him. 

                Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t have fun too.  He took a sip of his drink and allowed his eyes to stray to the gorgeous blonde sashaying towards him. Damn, but she was stunning.  Full, pouty lips that put Nat’s to shame, bright green eyes that seemed to glow despite the darkness of the club, long, thick blonde hair, and a figure to die for, clad in a barely-there green dress which left very little to the imagination.  And Clint had a very good imagination.

                “Hey there, handsome,” she purred, her voice shooting straight to his groin.  He’d heard Natasha in seduction mode, but the pure liquid _sex_ of this woman’s tone surpassed even the great Black Widow’s.  It probably helped that he was actually the target for once, though he definitely did not mind.

                Keeping his eyes trained on his partner, he gave the blonde his most winning smile.  “Something I can help you with, gorgeous?”

                “Maybe,” she replied, radiating interest.  Unfortunately, she noticed she didn’t have his full attention, and followed his gaze to Natasha’s fiery hair.  “Who’s that?” she asked, sounding put off.  “Your girlfriend?”

                Clint laughed.  “Naw.  Tasha’s just a friend.”  His best friend, his family, and the most important person to him on the planet— but definitely not someone he’d want to sleep with. 

                Oh, he’d thought about it, of course.  You’d have to be dead to not notice how gorgeous she was.  But he knew she didn’t feel the same, that she valued him too much as a friend and partner to want to sleep with him.  Frankly they were both better off that way.  Any affair between them would end in disaster—and the loss of something far more precious than romantic love.

                The hottie next to him was still glaring down at Natasha.   His partner would probably be fine if he took his eyes off her for a few minutes—long enough to get cozy with the blonde babe.  He turned his full attention on the woman, who immediately brightened.  “Why? You looking to start something?”

                She laughed, low and hot, and invaded his personal space, pressing herself against him.  “More like tending to a little unfinished business.”

                She kissed him, fierce and passionate.  He barely managed to register that he was kissing her back before he felt a sudden darkness encroaching the edges of his vision.  He’d only felt this sensation once before, when a golden scepter struck his chest, washing out everything and turning the world blue…

                He tried to fight it, but just like the last time, he was powerless against the— _magic_ , damnit, she was putting some _spell_ on him, just like last time, with _him_ , and oh God, _Tasha_ -

                “Your precious Tasha is out of your range, my sweet Hawk.  I am all that matters to you now.”

                Her voice in his head was the last thing Clint heard before everything went black.


	8. Dance with the Devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pants* Finally done! This chapter was basically my inspiration for this story, and I've been working on it on-and-off for about two years, trying to get it just right. Hope you guys like it!

                Natasha Romanoff smirked when she saw the blonde kiss her partner.  Looks like someone was getting lucky tonight.  She closed her eyes and let the music pulse through her, the sound drowning out everything else.  Dancing was one of the few joys in her life, and nothing was going to stop her from indulging in it.  She badly needed to relax after the Latverian disaster.

                Abruptly, long, elegant fingers closed around her hips, accompanied by an all-too-familiar voice.  "Mind if I cut in?"

                Her eyes shot open. “Loki.”

                “Black Widow.” The God of Mischief’s voice was soft, but she could hear him as clearly as if the room was dead silent. She tried to fight, run, get his hands off her body—but she couldn’t.  Instead she unwillingly shifted her rhythm to accommodate her new dance partner, allowing them to move together. 

                She _really_ hated magic.

                Clint would have noticed the moment that Loki appeared at her side.  The fact that he hadn’t done anything yet—and she would know if he had, he wasn’t exactly subtle when he believed she was in danger—scared her more than the fact that she was quite literally under Loki’s spell.  She looked up to the second floor, but he was nowhere in sight.  “Barton-“

                “Is no longer your concern,” Loki interrupted smoothly. “I had a, ah, associate escort him out.” 

                Natasha fought to remain calm.  Loki was like a shark; if he knew he’d drawn blood, he’d move in for the kill.  She'd once exploited that quality to her advantage, but there were countless days—and nights—that she wished she had never let him see her like that. Vulnerable. _Weak_.  “If your ‘associate’ harms him, I’ll kill you both, Thor be damned.”

                He tightened his grip on her hips at Thor’s name, his fingers sure to leave bruises.  “I’d like to see you try.”

                “Let me go and I will.”

                “Mm, I think not.” He pressed himself against her back.  One hand caught hold of her arm and twined it around his neck, her stiletto heels easing the stark difference in height between them.  “I like you right where you are.”

                She tried to struggle, or at least turn her head to look at him, but his spell kept her pliant, as though she were a puppet on a string.  “How did you-?”

                “Escape?  I may not be overly beloved on Asgard, but I am not without allies.”  Natasha could hear the smirk in his voice.  “I made my associate an offer she could not refuse.”

                “What do you want, Loki?”

                “Oh, many things, my dear.  My staff in my hand, my enemies crushed, Midgard at my feet.”  He ran his hand lightly down her bare arm.  “You kneeling before me.”

                “I’ll die first.”

                “That can be arranged.”  She bit back a gasp when icy lips brushed the inside of her wrist.  “But not yet.”  

                “Why not?  You’ve wanted me dead since before we met.”

                “You mean my little threat?”  He chuckled darkly.  “That was just a bit of fun, really.  A game, to pass the time until Barton came to retrieve me.”  

                “That’s what this is, isn’t it?” she asked, cold fury creeping into her voice.  “Another game, with Barton’s life on the line.”

                “Oh, there’s more at stake than that.”  Loki pulled her tighter against him, molding her body to his.  “Your entire world, as a matter of fact.”

                “Just like before.”

                “Only this time, Agent Romanoff, there is no cage separating us,” he murmured into her ear.  “And soon, you will have no allies to shield you.  You will be truly alone when we face each other next.”  Natasha fought back a shudder.  His seductive voice made the threats sound almost like a lover’s vows.  “I will break you, as I vowed Barton would destroy you: slowly, intimately, in every way I know you fear.  I will strip you of every weapon, every skill, every artifice with which you weave your protective webs.  You will be laid bare before me, unmade in every way, and then, _Natasha_ , you will be mine. ”  

                She felt like a mouse caught in a snake’s coils, ready to be swallowed whole.   The way he hissed her name, with venomous longing, reminded her vividly of the hungry look he’d given her on the Helicarrier.  She had seen in him the same lust for domination as her masters in the Red Room, who had taken monstrous delight in tearing her apart and putting her back together exactly the way they wanted her.  But she had escaped them, had escaped him, once before, and she could do it again.  “I belong to no one,” she snarled.  “Least of all you.”

                He chuckled again, lips trailing down her jaw.  Unwillingly, Natasha found herself tilting her head back, baring her throat to him, and she flinched when his teeth scraped her pulse.  “We shall see, little spider, how long you last once I take everything from you,” he replied.  His voice was a dark, sensual purr, sliding against her skin and curling beneath her clothes, conjuring the flickering shadows of candlelight on a bedroom wall, the sweet glide of naked flesh against silk sheets.  

                Her eyes fluttered shut.  God, it would be so easy to just relax in his arms, to let go of her responsibilities.  Forget about SHIELD.  Forget about the Avengers.  Forget about Clint…

                She snapped her eyes back open.  “No,” she said, her will fighting back against his magic.  She was the Black Widow, and she would not yield.  Not when Clint’s life was on the line.  She managed to dig her nails into Loki’s neck, making him hiss.  “It will take more than magic tricks to break me.”

                Loki spun her to face him.  He was dressed in ordinary human clothes, or at least as ordinary as he could get: a green silk shirt and black pants.  His eerily bright eyes flashed in the darkness of the club, and his grin was fierce and wolfish.  “Then let the games begin.”  And he was gone, as suddenly as he had appeared, and his spell with him.

                The moment she could move again, Natasha made a beeline for the club’s exit, shoving other patrons out of her way.  She had to get back to the Tower, had to warn the others.  Had to find Clint before she lost him again.

                Had to stop Loki before he made her lose herself again.


	9. The Ex from Hel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me forever to update. Life is insane right now, and my muse has been bouncing around other topics. But the introductory stuff is over now, I promise. On to the plot!

                After they’d reset Bruce’s arm, Agent Hill kindly offered to help Betty get him back to the Tower, for which Betty was eternally grateful.  Especially once they got back to the Tower and discovered the Tony/Pepper mess from earlier that day had gotten even worse.  According to JARVIS, Pepper was barricaded in her and Tony’s bedroom, having locked everyone out after Rhodey dropped her off.  

                What surprised Betty was that Tony wasn’t camped outside the room begging for forgiveness.  Looking back, it should have been a clear warning sign, but she was a little preoccupied with Bruce at the moment and had put it on a back burner.

                After Hill helped her get Bruce settled in, Betty offered to see her to her car.  “It’s the least I can do after all your help, especially since I know you wanted to go after that blonde.”

                “Thank you.  And don’t worry.  I’ll find her.”  A determined glint shone in Hill’s eyes, and Betty was suddenly grateful that SHIELD had protected Bruce from her father rather than helped hunt him.  This woman would have tracked them down within hours after they fled Culver.

                They got in the elevator together and Betty hit the button for the garage.  The elevator started to descend, but about ten seconds later it abruptly halted, throwing Betty and Hill off balance.  “What the-?” Hill exclaimed, just as the elevator reversed directions, ascending rapidly.

                “JARVIS, what’s going on?” Betty asked worriedly.  Avengers’ Tower may not be the most normal place to live, but even for the Avengers, this was _not_ normal.

                “Apologies Dr. Ross, Agent Hill, but Mr. Stark requests your urgent presence on the common floor.”  The common floor was the Avengers’ unofficial gathering place, consisting of a giant communal living area with a small rec room off to the side, the communal kitchen, and a group dining room.  If Tony was having JARVIS divert them there, it must be something urgent.  Though knowing Tony, it could just as easily not be.

                Hill did not look happy.  “What the hell does Stark want this time?”

                Betty shook her head.  “Don’t look at me.  Even if I could read Tony’s mind, I wouldn’t want to.”

                Hill’s lips twitched briefly.  “That makes two of us.”

                The elevator halted on the common floor and Betty stepped out to complete chaos.

                “What is wrong with both of you?  You two know better than this-“

                “But we had good reasons!”                               

                “Yeah, but you were both still jerks.”

                “Darcy, how many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”

                A sheepish-looking Thor and Steve were being roundly scolded by Jane and Darcy in the center of the room.  Clint was watching from one of the recliners, looking amused, while Tony was behind the bar pouring himself a drink.  Hill cleared her throat loudly, getting everyone’s attention.  “What is going on here?”

                “Steve ditched Darcy on their bar hopping to take a girl home and Thor ditched Jane after the play because he apparently saw some ex-girlfriend from Asgard in the crowd outside the theater,” Clint helpfully supplied.

                “She was not just ‘some ex-girlfriend’!” Thor objected loudly.  “She was the Enchantress, one of the most powerful magic users in Asgard aside from my brother.  She has been madly in love with me for centuries, and I feared she may harm my Lady Jane.”  He looked at Jane with his big puppy-dog eyes which, in Betty’s opinion, would make any woman except those gathered in this room cave to his every demand.  “She is viciously jealous of any woman in my affections that is not she, and she has resorted to dastardly means to be rid of them in the past.”

                “So you ran off on me to protect me,” Jane drawled, crossing her arms.  “I’ve heard that one before.”

                “Is that why you redirected the elevator, Tony?” Betty asked quickly, before the argument could start up again.  This was exactly why she had refused Tony’s offer to live in the Tower.  Some days there was just too much drama in this building, and she had enough on her plate with Bruce and her sexual frustration, thank you very much.

                Tony walked out from behind the bar, drink in hand.  “Yup.  Thor’s worried enough about this Enchantress that I figured we should all talk about this.  Especially you girls.”

                Darcy raised an eyebrow.  “Why us?”

                “And why me?” Hill added, still clearly irritated.

                “The Enchantress is a mistress of seduction and love magics,” Thor said.  “Her powers are particularly effective against men, but no so against women, though she has other skills at her disposal.”

                JARVIS’s voice interrupted.  “Sir, Agent Romanoff has returned and is heading for her floor.  Shall I redirect her?”

                “Yes, JARVIS, thanks,” Tony said.

                “Wait, Natasha’s not here already?” Darcy asked, turning to Clint.  “But she went out clubbing with you earlier.”  
                “I got bored and came back early,” Clint said with a shrug.  “Nat’s a big girl, she can handle herself.”  Yes, but Clint never let her.  Betty knew enough about their relationship to know Natasha never went out to dance without Clint as her wingman.  This night just kept getting weirder and weirder, but Betty just couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was so weird.

                Her musings were interrupted by the elevator doors opening again behind her.  She turned to see Natasha stride off the elevator, her expression closed and guarded.  Out of the corner of her eye, she immediately saw Hill tense and rest a hand on her sidearm.  “Natasha?” Betty asked.  “Is everything okay?”

                Natasha’s eyes were fixed on Clint as she addressed Tony.  “Stark, what’s going on?”

                “Thor’s ex-girlfriend is in town,” Tony said.  “And she’s got magic.”

                “Wonderful,” Natasha said dryly.  Betty noticed Hill moving closer to Natasha, and found herself doing the same, though she wasn’t quite sure why.  Natasha’s entrance seemed to have made everyone tense.  All the men were watching Natasha, and Jane and Darcy were slowly edging away from Steve and Thor, towards the elevators.  “Just how powerful are we talking here?  Loki-level?”

                “Nearly,” Thor said.  “Amora is one of the few magic-users in Asgard who could match my brother’s strength, but Loki has always surpassed her.”

                “Wait, did you say ‘Amora’?” Darcy blurted, drawing all eyes to her.

                “Yes,” Thor replied.  “The Enchantress’s name is Amora.”

                Darcy’s eyes darted to Steve.  “The woman from the bar…you said her name was Amora.”  
                “Darcy, what did she look like?” Natasha asked quickly, before Steve could respond.

                “This gorgeous blonde in green.  She was the one Steve ditched me for.”

                “Funny,” Natasha said.  Her voice was deceptively calm, but her tone made the hairs on the back of Betty’s neck stand up.  “The last person I saw you with, Clint, was a gorgeous blonde in a green dress who was sticking her tongue down your throat.”

                Abruptly, things clicked into place.  “Wait, I saw a blonde leaving Bruce’s lab-“

                “And Fury’s office,” Hill added, Betty’s own horror reflected in her voice.  Jane and Darcy looked equally freaked-out, and both were backing towards the others as Clint rose from his chair and Tony put his drink down.  The boys’ faces were suddenly serious, intent, and decidedly unfriendly.

                “Thor,” Jane asked softly, fear clear in her voice.  “Is Amora blonde?”

                “Why don’t you see for yourself?” A lovely feminine voice echoed through the air.  Suddenly, a new figure materialized in the center of the room, and Betty heard the others gasp along with her.

                The beautiful blonde she’d seen walking out of Bruce’s lab now stood in the center of the common room, flanked by Thor and Steve.  She was dressed in a bizarre green armored getup with a matching headpiece that resembled Thor’s armor; she certainly looked like she was from Asgard.  “So you are the women who’ve wormed your way into these men’s minds and hearts,” she said disdainfully, looking them up and down.  “I must say, I don’t particularly see the appeal.”  Her eyes zeroed in on Jane.  “Especially you.  Why in the Nine Realms would my beloved Thor spurn my affections for such a plain mortal wench?”

                Jane looked stunned, but Darcy, ever Jane’s protector, quickly snapped back, “Hey, you do not talk to Jane like that!”

                “Who’s going to stop me? You, Darcy Lewis, with your tiny Taser and your even tinier brain?” Amora said mockingly.

                “I’ll show you how tiny my Taser is!” Darcy snarled, but Betty quickly caught hold of her.

                “Darcy, don’t!” Attacking a clearly evil Asgardian sorceress?  Not a good idea. 

                Amora laughed.  “Listen to her, little one.  You have no chance against me.”  She grinned and gestured to the boys.  “Much less my loyal servants here.”  Suddenly the boys’ bizarre behavior made sense.  She was controlling them! But then what had she done to Bruce?  And Director Fury?

                Hill suddenly had her sidearm out and up.  Before Betty could blink Hill fired at Amora.  But Steve threw himself in front of her, the bullet piercing his shoulder rather than Amora’s skull.  He cried out with pain, while Betty heard herself, Jane, and Darcy echo him in shock.  

                Just as suddenly as Hill had fired, Clint whipped out a knife and threw it at Hill.  Fortunately, Natasha acted just as quickly, yanking Hill out of the way so the knife embedded in the wall behind her head instead of burying itself in her forehead.  “Thanks,” Hill said quickly to Natasha before bringing up her gun again.

                Amora just laughed.  “Try that again, you’ll only get the same result.  Or worse, you might actually kill one of your beloved Avengers.”  She reached out a hand and touched Steve’s shoulder.  The bullet wound healed instantly, much to Betty’s shock.  She’d heard Thor talk about magic healing spells, but the scientist in her hadn’t quite believed it until now.  “Or I can kill them for you.  I’d prefer to keep them all alive, but I’m sure one of them is expendable.”

                Hill didn’t lower her gun.  “What do you want?” she snapped.

                Amora smiled wickedly.  “Oh, I have what I want,” she purred before turning to Thor.  “Kiss me, beloved,” she commanded, and Thor obeyed without hesitation.  Jane let out a soft cry as her boyfriend kissed another woman, and Betty quickly moved to join Darcy in supporting her.  Amora broke the kiss and looked at Jane with a cruel laugh.  “Hurts, doesn’t it?  To know the man you love desires another above you?”

                “Only because you’re controlling him,” Natasha said, her voice still calm, but with a razor’s edge.  “He wouldn’t look at you twice if he was himself.”  Amora’s face flushed in anger.  Betty had to admit, Natasha always seemed to know how to push someone’s buttons just right.  But in this case, it might not have been such a good plan, considering this someone could very easily kill them. 

                “I see why he wants you, Agent Romanoff,” the Enchantress spat.  “You’re just like him.  Though honestly, it’d be so much less annoying to just kill you.”  She snapped her fingers and the men all looked at her instantly.  “Take the Black Widow alive.  Kill the others.”  She suddenly looked directly at Betty, and her vicious grin reappeared.  “I’ve got a Hulk to awaken.”

                A chill shot down Betty’s spine. “No!” she cried, just as Amora teleported away.  Not Bruce!  Oh God, not the Hulk!

                A sudden whirl and thud brought her attention back to the present as Mjolnir flew into Thor’s hand.  “JARVIS, lock down the Tower,” Tony said as he pulled a couple of guns out from a hidden cache and tossed one to Steve, who caught it effortlessly.  Clint, meanwhile, had produced more knives from somewhere on his person.  Betty’s eyes widened and she joined the others in backing up towards the elevators.  

                To say these were terrible odds was a colossal understatement.  One (potentially) unarmed Avenger, one SHIELD agent with a gun, and three unarmed civilians with varying levels of self-defense training—Betty was a military brat, so of course she knew self-defense, but she didn’t know about Darcy or Jane—versus four Avengers, two of whom had superhuman physical prowess and one of whom never missed.  It would take a miracle to get them out of this alive.

                Betty closed her eyes, picturing Bruce’s smile, recalling the last time they’d made love, just days before his accident.  If she was going to die, she was going to go out thinking of him—and praying that someone would be able to stop this madness before Bruce got hurt.


	10. Escape from Stark Tower

                Pepper was lying on the bed in one of Tony’s shirts—no way was she going to sulk in a designer gown—when the lockdown initiated.  She was on her feet in an instant, flying to her closet to find some practical clothes.  “JARVIS, what’s going on?”

                The AI sounded alarmed.  “Miss Potts, I believe there is something terribly wrong with Mr. Stark.”  Pepper tossed off Tony’s shirt and put on the nearest bra she could grab before snatching up a white shirt, a pair of jeans, and one of the few flat-soled shoes she owned.  She ran out into the bedroom, yanking the shirt over her head, only for her eyes to go wide.

                JARVIS had pulled up a feed of the common floor on the room’s TV, and Pepper couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.  Tony and Steve had guns, Clint had knives, Thor had Mjolnir, and they all looked ready to attack Natasha, Darcy, Jane, Betty, and Agent Hill, who was somehow in the Tower.  “JARVIS, what-?”

                “Mister Stark and the others are under the control of an Asgardian sorceress,” JARVIS reported.  “She has gone to take control of Dr. Banner and his alter ego, leaving the remaining Avengers to kill the ladies and take Agent Romanoff prisoner.”

                Before Afghanistan, Pepper would have panicked.  A lot had changed since then.  “JARVIS, Override Code 1-2-2-5-1-2,” she snapped, quickly pulling on her jeans.

                “Override Code accepted.”

                “Release the lockdown and open the doors of the elevator on the common room floor _now._ ”  Pepper slipped on her shoes, grabbed her purse, and fished out her cell phone.  The lockdown released to the confusion of those on the common floor.  Pepper watched the elevator doors open and thank God Natasha must have been paying attention, because she and Agent Hill immediately herded Darcy, Jane, and Betty into the elevator.

                But that got the boys’ attention, and Pepper screamed when she saw Thor hurl Mjolnir at the elevator.  But much to her shock—and everyone else’s, from what she could see—Mjolnir missed, instead hitting the wall next to the elevator.  “JARVIS, close the doors now!” Pepper yelled, dialing Natasha’s number as fast as she could.

                The bulletproof doors slammed shut just as Steve opened fire and Clint started throwing knives.  “JARVIS, what the hell is going on?” Tony yelled.

                “Don’t answer him,” Pepper ordered, just as Natasha picked up.

                “Pepper? Thank God you’re alive!”

                “Natasha, what’s going on?  JARVIS said something about a sorceress, and Tony-“  
                “Is not himself.”  Natasha did not sound happy.  “We have to get out of here.  Now.”

                “JARVIS, direct them to the garage-” Pepper was cut off by a loud, terrible roar that shook the Tower’s foundations.

                “Bruce!” she heard Betty scream in the background over the phone.

                Natasha cursed in Russian.  “JARVIS, take us to the hanger, now.  Pepper, meet us down here.  Once Tony realizes what’s happened-”

                “Got it.  Meet you there.”  Adrenaline pumping, Pepper ran across the penthouse floor to the elevator, which JARVIS had kindly summoned already.  Springing inside, she hit the button for the Quinjet hanger that Tony had built after the Battle of Manhattan, just in case the team needed some speedy transport.  As the elevator descended, the roars of the Hulk continued to echo through the building, but Pepper stayed calm.  She’d survived Extremis—this was nothing.  “JARVIS, whatever you do, don’t let Tony get in his suit!”

                “Yes, Miss Potts.”

                The doors opened and Pepper sprinted across the hanger towards the Quinjet, relieved beyond measure to see the others emerging from the elevator bank on the other side of the room.  “Everyone, get onboard!” Natasha ordered.  “Hill, get this thing in the air!”

                “JARVIS, open the hanger doors!” Pepper ordered as she joined the others, running up the gangplank.  Hill started to close the ramp as soon as they were aboard, but Pepper turned to see Steve and Thor burst through the door from the stairwell.  “Hurry!” she screamed up to Hill and Natasha in the cockpit.

                The door shut mere seconds before a loud thud impacted the metal, leaving a hammer-sized dent in the back of the Quinjet and causing Pepper, Jane, Darcy, and Betty to scream.  “Hang on!” Natasha yelled back, and Pepper lurched for a seat just as the Quinjet started to take off.  There was a huge crash, the sound of the Hulk’s roar, and then they were soaring away from the building, somehow in one piece.

                She could still hear the Hulk roaring as the Quinjet drew further away, but for the moment, it seemed they were safe.  Naturally, Pepper then allowed herself to panic.  She got up and stormed up to the cockpit.  “Okay, what the hell just happened?”

                “The Avengers have been compromised by an Asgaurdian sorceress, the Enchantress,” Hill said quickly, switching on the jet’s stealth mode so they dropped off the radar.  “And so has Director Fury.  SHIELD is out of the question.”  She shot a look back at Pepper.  “Thank God Stark disabled our tracking system in here, or they’d get us for sure.”

                “What does this woman want with the Avengers?” Pepper asked.

                “She wants Thor,” Natasha said.  “But she’s not the real problem.”

                Hill’s head whipped around to stare at her.  “What?”

                Natasha only needed to say one word.  “Loki.”

                They all went quiet.  Finally, Pepper heard Darcy speak up from behind her.  “But I thought he was-“

                “Amora helped him escape,” Natasha answered before Darcy could finish.  She looked at Hill.  “He wants to finish what he started.”  Hill cursed.

                “What do we do?” Pepper asked, her mind going into automatic crisis mode.  She was worried as hell about Tony, of course, but the best way she could help him was to take this bastard and his new friend down.  She hadn’t been able to do anything the day the Chitauri attacked.  She refused to be sidelined again.

                “For now, we find a place to hide,” Natasha said.  “Somewhere SHIELD and the Avengers don’t know about.”  She closed her eyes, frustrated.  “Which means my safe houses are out.  The ones SHIELD doesn’t know about, Clint does.”

                “Stark’s properties are useless,” Hill said, side-eying Pepper, who cursed to herself.  Of course they were.

                “And any places we might have told the boys about that we used to stay in,” Betty added.

                Pepper’s mind raced.  Where could they go?  What was someplace that no one would ever expect them to-

                It hit her like one of Thor’s lightning bolts.  “I know the last place they’d expect any of us to go.  Not even Tony would think of this.”

                She felt all eyes on her.  “Where?” Hill asked.

                “Rose Hill, Tennessee.”


	11. Harley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I've been caught up with the craziness of life/my new series "Spiders Have To Stick Together" (which if you like Ultimate Spider-Man and/or Natasha, please check out). But anyway, here's Harley, as promised!

                Jane spent most of the flight to Tennessee in a state of shock.  She couldn’t stop seeing Thor kissing Amora, the image playing on repeat in her head.  Logically, she knew he was under a spell—Amora and Natasha had both said so.  But to lose him again, after having already lost him once, was just too much.

                Darcy wasn’t helping.  She thought she was, but she wasn’t.  “I swear, Jane, when I see that bitch again, I am so going to Taser her ass!  How dare she do that with Thor! I mean, not that I blame her, but-“

                “Darcy,” Pepper said tiredly.  “Please shut up.”  Jane nearly sighed with relief when her assistant did just that.

                Betty came over and sat next to her.  She didn’t say anything, just rested a hand on Jane’s shoulder, but that one gesture was more comforting than anything Darcy had said.  The strength of her grip seemed to tell Jane, “We’ll get them back,” and for the first time since Thor’s lips touched Amora’s, Jane believed it.

                She just didn’t have any clue how they were actually going to do it.  Especially from Middle-of-Nowhere, Tennessee.

                Although the Middle-of-Nowhere part actually proved helpful in hiding the Quinjet.  Hill and Natasha managed to find a large enough area to set down within reasonable distance of the town Pepper had directed them to.  Hill then activated the jet’s camouflage mode, which allowed it to be invisible to sight while parked on the ground just as the stealth mode kept it under wraps in the air.  For the first time, Jane really appreciated all the tinkering Tony had done to the SHIELD vehicle.  Listening to Pepper complain about how much time Tony spent on it versus with her was completely worth it being there to save their lives.

                With the jet safely hidden, Hill and Natasha popped open the holds and started pulling out what gear and weapons the group could carry with them.  Jane raised an eyebrow.  “Um, I have no idea where we’re going, but I’m pretty sure if we show up armed to the teeth we won’t exactly get a warm welcome.”

                “Jane’s right,” Pepper said.  “We can come back for them later, once we get settled in and explain the situation to Harley.”

                Darcy wrinkled her nose.  “Harley?”

                “A friend of Tony’s,” Pepper explained.  “He’s why we’re here.”

                Hill frowned.  “A friend of Stark’s lives in Rose Hill, Tennessee?”

                Natasha watched Pepper like a hawk.  “What aren’t you telling us, Pepper?”

                Pepper sighed.  “I’ll explain everything, I promise.  But right now, I need to get in touch with JARVIS, and Harley has a link to him.”  That made Jane’s eyebrows shoot up.  Tone didn’t trust just anyone with access to JARVIS.  Even the Avengers’ Quinjet lacked a link to the AI, hence why Pepper was probably so desperate.

                “Well then, what are we waiting for?” Betty said, exasperated.  “Let’s go!”

                They finally set out after Natasha had armed herself to the teeth with extra knives (she’d already been packing some, though where she’d been hiding them in her clubbing outfit Jane had no idea) and both she and Hill got more ammo for their guns (Natasha’s had been hiding in a thigh holster under her skirt the whole time).  Using the GPS in Pepper’s phone, they trekked through the woods until they found a slightly run-down looking house with a huge garage that looked almost like a barn.

                Hill shot a look at Pepper.  “Stark’s friend lives _here_?”

                “According to the coordinates he gave me,” Pepper replied.

                “And you’re sure Tony won’t look for us here?” Natasha asked.

                Pepper shook her head.  “This is the last place Tony will think to look.  Trust me.  Harley and I barely know each other.”

                “Then how do we know we can trust him?” Hill demanded.

                Pepper gave her a look that had doubtless made shareholders quake in their designer shoes. “He saved Tony’s life.   That’s enough for me.”  

                To Jane’s surprise, Pepper walked towards the garage instead of the front door.  Natasha followed her, gun at the ready, and Hill pushed Jane, Darcy, and Betty to follow, with her bringing up the rear.  Jane thought she saw a shadow in the window of the garage.  She hoped whoever this Harley guy was, he could help them get Thor and the others back.

                Pepper knocked on the door, and Jane nearly fell over with shock when a little boy opened it.  “Miss Potts!” he exclaimed.  “Is Tony okay?  What’s going-” Then he spotted the rest of them and his mouth dropped open.  “Oh my God.”

                “Harley, we need a place to hide,” Pepper said quickly.  “Can we come in?”

                “Sure!” the kid—Harley, _this_ was Harley?—said, backing up to let them into the garage.  Jane went inside with the others and blinked in surprise.  The interior was a little boy’s dream, full of high-tech toys and a bright red sports car.  In other words, it screamed Tony Stark.  “Miss Potts, what’s going on?”

                The minute Harley shut the door, Hill rounded on Pepper.  “A kid?  You dragged us down here to hide out with a kid?  Potts, are you insane?”

                “Agent Hill, calm down!” Betty said, leaping to Pepper’s defense.  “I’m sure she had her reasons.”

                “It’s smart, Maria,” Natasha said, surprising Jane with her use of the Deputy Director’s first name.  “Tony will never think that Pepper decided to hide here.  At least, not until they’ve exhausted every other option.”

                “Where are your parents?” Darcy asked Harley, making Jane roll her eyes.  Of all the things wrong with this situation, _that’s_ what Darcy fixates on?

                “Mom’s at work still,” Harley said, addressing Pepper, probably because he didn’t know the rest of them.  “I don’t know how long I can hide you all here.”  He looked around at them.  “Who are y’all, anyway?”  Despite the situation, Jane almost giggled at the Tennessee twang that snuck into his voice.  He was actually pretty adorable.

                “I’m sorry, I should have started with introductions,” Pepper said, glaring at Agent Hill.  “Everyone, this is Harley Keener.  He helped Tony during the Extremis incident.”  Jane’s eyes widened.  This kid was involved with _that_ debacle?  No wonder Pepper had thought of him. “Harley, this is Dr. Foster, Miss Lewis, Dr. Ross, Agent Hill, and Agent Romanoff, aka the Black Widow.”

                Harley stared at Natasha after Pepper finished.  “Whoa.  You’re an Avenger.”

                Natasha smiled, and for her, it was surprisingly genuine.  “Yes, and my team needs you right now, Harley.”

                He pointed to himself.  “Me?  What can I do?”

                “You can start by getting me a secure connection to JARVIS,” Pepper said.  Harley nodded quickly and ran to his computer. 

                A few keystrokes later, and JARVIS’ voice filled the room.  “Master Harley, how may I assist you?”

                “Pepper Potts here, JARVIS,” Pepper said.  “We’re at Harley’s.”

                The AI sounded surprisingly relieved.  “I’m glad that you’re all in one piece.  Mister Stark was most put-out when he realized why I had lifted the lockdown.  He’s currently in my system right now, trying to disable the override.  But it will take him some weeks to remove it.  He made sure of that when he installed it.”  Jane was impressed.  It almost sounded like Tony prepared for this exact scenario.

                “Does Tony know Harley’s accessing you?”

                “Yes, but he’s unaware that you are here, Miss Potts.  The connection is perfectly secure, and should he attempt to tap it, I will shut him out until the override is released.”

                “I’d never release it if I were you,” Hill said with a snort.  “It’d be a great way to keep Stark on a tight leash.”

                “I’ll try to remember that,” Pepper said drolly.  “JARVIS, can you get us video feed of what’s going on in the Tower?”

                “Affirmative.”

                “Pull it up on the computer screen.”  Instantly, Harvey’s monitor was full of images from the Tower security cameras.  Jane bit her lip as the group crowded around, both longing to see Thor and terribly afraid of what she might see.

                “There.” Agent Hill said, and JARVIS stopped the feed on the common room.  Jane felt like retching.  Thor was sitting on the couch, shirtless, with Amora perched on his lap, stroking his chest.

                “Oh, God,” she moaned.  “What has she done to him?”  Betty grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

                Steve and Clint were there too, just sitting around doing nothing—and also shirtless—but there was no sign of the Hulk or Tony.  At least, until a hologram of Tony’s face appeared in the main room.  “How’s it coming, pet?”  Amora asked in that purr of hers that made Jane’s hairs stand on end.  She was not usually a violent person, but God did she want to rip the Enchantress’s throat out.

                “Sorry, gorgeous, but this isn’t gonna happen overnight.  ‘Fraid JARVIS is no longer on our side.”

                Harvey looked at Pepper.  “Miss Potts, what’s he talking about?  Who’s that woman?”

                “She’s a sorceress, Harvey,” Pepper said, clearly having difficulty talking.  “And she has Tony and the other Avengers under a spell.”

                “Whoa,” said Harvey, his voice filled with childlike awe.  Jane would find it adorable if she weren't riveted by the image of another woman sitting on her boyfriend’s lap.

                “No matter,” Amora said on the screen.  “We have other resources.  The most important thing right now, my darlings, is that we find your stray lady-loves.  Think of anywhere they might have gone-”

                “And I guarantee they won’t be there.”  Jane was not the only one who gasped when Loki suddenly materialized on the screen.  “I give you one simple task, Amora, and you fail even at that.”

                Harley turned to Pepper with a frightened look.  “Isn’t that the guy from New York?”

                It was Jane herself who murmured, “Yes.”  Thor’s bastard brother, the person responsible for everything.  Forget Amora, she’d rather rip Loki’s throat out for all the suffering he’d caused Thor.

                Amora instantly leapt up from Thor’s lap, to Jane’s relief.  “Loki! What are you doing here?  I thought you were retrieving your scepter from the mortals’ grasp.”

                “The scepter?” Hill said, throwing a questioning look at Natasha.  That’s right. Natasha had been the one who knew of Loki’s involvement.  Jane wondered how that was possible, but before she could ask, Loki started speaking.

                “Your other pets have informed me that it is located on the Helicarrier, and Fury was kind enough to summon it for me.  It will not arrive for some time, though.”  The God of Mischief’s tone turned considerably more irritated as he moved towards Amora, looming over her threateningly.  “He was also kind enough to put all of SHIELD’s resources towards finding our escapees after learning that the Avengers’ Quinjet had made it out of Stark Tower.”

                “It’s not my fault!” Amora immediately exclaimed, and Jane grimaced at how quickly Thor and the other boys seemed ready to come to her rescue.  “How was I supposed to know Stark had given his beloved the ability to override his control of his own building?”  She jabbed a finger into Loki’s chest.  “You certainly didn’t.”

                Loki grabbed her wrist and shoved her hand away.  “Be that as it may, the most powerful sorceress in Asgard and five Avengers should have been able to slaughter five mortal women and capture a sixth, even with the building’s systems turned against them.  Care to explain why I see a distinct lack of bodies?”

                Amora slunk before Loki and trailed a finger down his leather coat.  It looked to Jane like she was almost trying to flirt with the Trickster.  “Oh, come now, Loki, don’t be angry.  They’re only mortals.  What can they do to stop us?”

                Loki swatted Amora’s hand away and she took a step back.  “Clearly they’re more capable than they appear, or they would not have escaped.  At the very least, neither the Black Widow nor Fury’s right-hand woman are incompetent.  I would rather have them safely dealt with than risk them running around interrupting our plans.”

                “If this SHIELD is as influential as you say, then it should not take long to find them,” Amora said, sitting herself back on Thor’s lap, much to Jane’s disgust.  “Where can they possibly hide from their own allies?”

                “In the last place where anyone would search for them,” Loki replied.  The group tensed at that.  “If they know that their allies are under our power, they will avoid any hiding place that could be considered obvious.  Interrogate your pets as to the most unlikely places they would hide and send that information to the Son of Coul.”

                Pepper blanched at that.  “God, not Phil too.”

                “There goes that avenue,” Hill muttered, distinctly displeased.  Natasha didn’t look too happy either.  Jane herself was pretty upset.  Phil Coulson was, under his MIB-esque briskness, a wonderful man.  He didn’t deserve to be under the witch’s spell.

                Amora nodded her head.  “As you wish, my lord.”

                Loki vanished and Pepper said, “JARVIS, mute the audio, but continue recording all activity in the Tower.  Keep us updated on everything that’s going on.  Anything important, tell us immediately.”

                “Affirmative, Miss Potts.”  The screen went back to Harvey’s desktop.

                They were all quiet for a long time before Harvey broke the silence.  “So, let me get this straight.  The guy who attacked New York is working with a sorceress who has the other Avengers, and apparently this…SHIELD thing under her control.  And they’re trying to find you guys and kill you.”

                “They’re not trying to kill all of us,” Agent Hill said, turning to Natasha.  “Talk, Romanoff.”

                “Yeah, how did you know about Loki?” Darcy added.  “And why does he want you alive.”

                “Loki came to me at the club where Clint and I were,” Natasha said.  “He distracted me while Amora got Clint, and he told me that he had something planned that would put the entire world at risk again.”

                “So he still wants to rule the world,” said Betty.

                “Yes,” Natasha replied.  “And he told me that the next time I faced him, I would be truly alone, with no allies.”  She sighed.  “I had no idea this was what he was planning.”

                “But what does he want with the boys?” Jane asked.  It didn’t make sense.  “If he wants revenge, why doesn’t he kill them?”

                Natasha looked at Jane.  “That’s what we need to find out.”


	12. Making Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Sorry for the massive delay, I'm just in a very busy phase of life right now. But the upcoming Agents of SHIELD episode with Sif and Lorelei struck my muse, so here's a new chapter!

                Natasha’s words brought on a heavy silence. Maria could hear the wheels turning in the minds of the brilliant—and not-so-brilliant—women gathered with her in Harley Keener’s garage. She was still furious at Potts for dragging a civilian, let alone a child, into this mess, even if he had helped out with the Extremis incident. When SHIELD found them—and it was a when, not if, there was no way they could stay undetected forever—and if the organization truly had fallen under Loki and the Enchantress’s sway, they would not hesitate to kill the boy with the rest of them. Well, except Natasha. Maria almost didn’t want to know why, except that any information on Loki’s plans was vital at the moment.

                Surprisingly, it was little Harley who broke the silence. “So, when this Loki guy attacked New York, he was with that alien army, right?”

                The women all looked at him, but it was Potts who answered, “Yes.”

                “And he was going to use them to take over the world, right?”

                “Yes.” Dr. Foster this time.

                Dr. Ross tilted her head curiously. “Why do you ask?”

                Harley fidgeted in his computer chair. “Well, if he still wants to take over the world, he’ll need another army. Where’s he going to get one?”

                God, it was so obvious. “He already has one.” The others turned to look at Maria, and she saw the same realization spark in Natasha’s eyes. “He has control of SHIELD, and the Avengers. That’s more than enough raw military power to start a war.”

                “He’d need the WSC,” Natasha said.

                “The who now?” Darcy asked.

                “The World Security Council,” Maria explained. “They’re who Fury answers to. They have the authority to override his orders.” Like they did in New York went unsaid between those who knew the story behind where Tony Stark got the nuclear warhead to blow up the Chitauri ship.

                “There’s at least one woman on the Council, though,” Natasha pointed out. “If Amora can only control men, Loki won’t have them all under his thumb.”

                “But with his scepter he will,” Maria countered, and Dr. Foster gasped out loud as the group started putting the pieces together.

                “My God,” Dr. Ross said. “He could control all of SHIELD.”

                “Or at least the half that witch can’t,” Darcy added.

                “Well, then you have to stop him!” The women all looked at Harley, who shrugged. “I have no clue what’s going on, but you guys do, and you seem to hang out with superheroes more than I do.”

                Maria snorted. Sure, six mortal women with extremely limited weapons and resources were going to stand up to all of SHIELD and the five male Avengers under the control of two nearly-immortal beings who both packed serious magical firepower. It’d be a miracle if the six of them together could take down Iron Man, let alone the Hulk or Thor.

                The other women voiced her thoughts. “I’m sorry, Harley, but I don’t think we can,” Potts said.

                “We don’t exactly have superpowers,” Dr. Foster said ruefully.

                “Or super-cool gadgets,” Lewis muttered.

                “Well, we have some of those,” Natasha amended.

                “And you’ve got everything I have!” Harley exclaimed, gesturing to the contents of the workshop. “I know Tony left me some gadgets to help me out with bul—to use to defend myself in case of an emergency.” Maria felt her lips quirk despite herself. What do you know, Tony Stark helping a little kid deal with bullies with expensive, dangerous tech. It was reckless, stupid, and…oddly touching. A lot like Stark himself could be at times, though she’d never voice that opinion. People might think she actually liked the bastard.

                “Okay, so we have some things, but it still isn’t enough.” Dr. Ross sounded frustrated. “We don’t have the firepower to take on anyone, much less the Hulk.”

                “Thor’s the only one who could take on the Hulk,” Dr. Foster said. Something in her tone caught Maria’s attention and she focused on the astrophysicist’s thoughtful expression.

                “What is it, Foster?” Her head whipped around to look at Maria. “Do you have any ideas about how we might even out those odds?”

                Dr. Foster frowned. “No, it’s just…did anyone else notice that Mjolnir never hit us?”

                Maria blinked. She was right. Thor’s trusty hammer never missed its target, yet it failed to strike any of them during their escape from Stark Tower.

                “Oh my God, you’re right!” Lewis exclaimed. “And Myeh-Myeh never misses!”

                “What are you thinking, Jane?” Natasha asked. Maria felt a slight discomfort at her fellow agent’s familiarity with the civilian women. Why had she even gotten herself dragged into this mess? She didn’t share anything with these women beyond association with Natasha, SHIELD, and a peripheral involvement with the Avengers Initiative. The Avengers’ inner circle was a tightly-knit unit, as close as any SHIELD team, and Maria was the outsider in this case. At least she wasn’t alone, since Harley seemed as left out as she did.

                “What if…what if Amora’s spell isn’t as strong as the scepter? What if that’s the real reason why Loki needs it back?”

                Now that could really help. “Is that possible?” Maria asked.

                Jane shrugged. “I don’t really know that much about magic. Thor’s not exactly an expert. But he did tell me that not all magic is equal. Some spells are stronger than others, mostly because they require stronger magic to use. And we know that the scepter’s magic is strong enough to leave behind some pretty nasty after-effects.”

                Lewis winced. “Poor Erik.” Ah, right, Dr. Selvig’s mental problems post-Loki. Maria was more inclined to think of Hawkeye, and from how Natasha’s face was deceptively calm she ventured the Black Widow was thinking of her partner as well. Though Barton’s recovery had been much better, mostly because he’d had Natasha to help him work through it. And that woman knew better than anyone Maria had heard of what it was like to be unmade.

                “So your theory is that Amora’s spell is weaker?” Dr. Ross asked.

                Jane nodded. “It’s the only reason I can think why Mjolnir wouldn’t have hit. There must be some part of Thor that was able to fight back. Either that, or Mjolnir itself was refusing to cooperate since only the worthy can wield it.” She winced. “And Thor…well, he isn’t behaving very worthily right now.”

                “So how does that help us?” Maria asked. It was all very interesting, to be sure, but unless they could use that information, it was worthless.

                “If I’m right, then there might be a way we can help the boys break free,” Jane said, already sounding convinced of the idea. “Or the spell might be weak enough that we can break it on our own.”

                “How can we find out for sure?” Pepper asked.

                “We would need a test subject,” Dr. Ross responded automatically. “Basic rules of science: form a hypothesis, then test it. So we would have to find a way to get hold of one of the boys.”

                “And how exactly do you propose we do that?” Maria asked incredulously. “I thought we already established that we have extremely limited capabilities. And any move we make will have SHIELD on our tail in an instant.”

                “It could work.”

                Maria’s head whipped around to look at Natasha. “How?”

                Natasha looked at Potts. “We just need an ally who packs some heat.”

                Potts’ eyes lit up with understanding. “Rhodey.”


	13. Getting A Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got around to watching "Yes Men," and I almost wish I could switch Lorelei and the Enchantress around. She would fit this part so perfectly, especially since there's been no sign of the Enchantress in the MCU yet. But since they're sisters in the comics and Lorelei seems a little more sinister than my version of Amora, who's a little more obsessed specifically with Thor and not that interested in conquering worlds, I'll probably give a nod to her in the next chapter. But right now, it's time for a male POV, so enjoy Rhodey!

                His cell ringing woke Rhodey from a very nice dream involving Tony’s plane and some of those stewardesses he used to employ. “Used to” being the operative term. Those girls had been one of the first things to go after he and Pepper got together.  He really hoped those two would be able to crush this latest obstacle to their relationship.  He wasn't sure why Tony had been acting like such a jackass earlier, but in the morning he was totally going to give his best friend hell.

                Speak of the devil, and she shall appear on your caller ID. “Pepper?”

                “James, thank God.” She sounded too relieved that he’d picked up.

                He sat up, instantly alert. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with Tony?”

                “He’s in danger, James, they all are.”

                Rhodey jumped out of bed and grabbed for his clothes. “Who, Pep?”

                “The Avengers. Well, minus Natasha, she’s here with me.”

                “Are you okay?”

                “We’re safe, for now. James, Loki’s back.”

                Rhodey froze. Loki. The guy from New York. “Oh my God, does SHIELD know?”

                “He’s got them, Rhodey. Loki has control over all of SHIELD and the guys.” Her calm voice broke a little. “Including Tony.”

                He quickly went back to putting on his clothes. “I’ll suit up and head to the Tower right away.”

                “No, don’t! They’ll just get you too.”

                “What do you need me to do?”

                “Natasha will explain.”

                A second later, the Black Widow’s voice came over the line. “Colonel Rhodes.”

                “Widow.” He finished struggling into his clothes. “What can I do for you?”

                “Pepper left out a few details that you need to know.” He heard some muttering in the background which sounded like Pepper, but Natasha talked over it. “Loki’s working with an Asgardian sorceress called the Enchantress. She has the power to control men, but only men. She currently has all my teammates, Director Fury, and Agent Coulson under her control, and possibly more.”

                He frowned. “How can I help, then? Sounds like this is a woman’s job.” Unlike Tony, he could admit when a situation didn’t play to his strengths. “If I go in, she might just zap me too.”

                “That’s what we’re counting on.”

                After finishing with Natasha, he made another call. His best friend’s irritated voice came over the line. “Hey, buddy, can this wait? Really busy at the moment.”

                “It can’t. Tony, I just got this call from Pepper-”

                “Pepper?” Tony’s voice changed instantly. “Where is she?”

                “Tony, I think she’s in trouble.”

                “I know she is. Where is she?”

                “She told me. Get your suit, I’ll send you the coordinates that way.”

                “Gotcha. See you in five, buddy.” The call ended.

                Rhodey sighed and called Pepper back as he left his hotel room. The management had kindly let him park his suit on the roof. “He took the bait.”

                “Good.” Pepper sounded even more relieved. “Thanks, Rhodey.”

                “Anything for my best friends.” He frowned. “You were right, there was something off about the way he talked. He didn’t seem like himself.”  His mind flashed back to the woman at the party.  The Enchantress?  Maybe.  He'd ask Pepper when they saw each other next.  If they did.

                “Be careful. Don’t want that witch getting her claws into you too.”

                “We’ll get him back, Pep.”

                Her voice over the line was like the ring of steel. “I know.”


	14. Know Your Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saw Winter Soldier last Friday, and if my fic wasn't massively AU before, it officially is now. Anyway, as promised, here's a chapter nodding to Lorelei, as well as me sort of trying to distinguish between MCU!Lorelei and my MCU version of Amora. Apologies for the slow pacing right now, but I promise things are going to start picking up soon, with some new faces arriving in future chapters.

                Darcy watched Pepper hang up the phone and saw her fighting back tears. God, if she got the chance, she was going to Taser that smug bitch’s ass so hard for what she’d done. Even though technically this whole mess was Loki’s fault, Amora was having too much fun ordering around the boys and rubbing it in the girls’ faces. Even if right now the witch wasn’t aware that Darcy was spying on her and Loki via JARVIS.

                After they’d come up with the plan to kidnap Tony, Agent Hill and Natasha had started preparing for war. The two SHIELD agents were currently making trips to and from the Quinjet to get weapons and supplies, while Betty and Jane were helping Harley straighten up the garage so they had space to work with. Darcy had wanted to help, but Natasha had told her to watch the Tower’s security footage. “Look for any information we can use against them,” she had said. Why did Darcy always get stuck with the suckiest jobs?

                “Anything interesting?” Pepper’s voice snapped her back to the present and she refocused on the monitor in front of her.

                “Unless you count Loki and Amora treating the guys like furniture, no, not really,” she replied. Amora was still parked in Thor’s lap, while Loki had started using Steve as a footrest. Clint was serving them drinks from Tony’s bar, and neither the Hulk nor Tony was in sight.

                But just then Tony’s holographic face appeared in the room again. “I’ve got them.”

                Loki kicked Steve away, making Darcy wince, and stood quickly. “Where are they?”

                “Not sure. Meeting Colonel James Rhodes to go after them. I was right, Pepper did call him.”

                “Of course she did,” Amora said from her muscle-bound chair. “They’ll need the firepower, puny mortals as they are.”

                “I hate her,” Darcy muttered.

                “You’re not alone,” Pepper replied just as acidly.

                “How much does he know?” Loki asked.

                “Nothing. Pepper didn’t give him any details. He just thinks she’s in trouble, so of course he’d come running to me.”

                “Good.” Amora said, rising as well. “Have him take you there and send us the coordinates. You can begin the assault on them if you wish once you’ve done that.”

                “Of course, my love.” Darcy winced at his sickeningly servile tone and a quick look at Pepper saw the CEO’s composure starting to crack.

                Tony’s face vanished from the hologram and Loki turned to Amora. “It could be a trap.”

                “In which case we’ll still get the location,” the Enchantress responded, sitting back on Thor’s lap and cuddling against him. “Whether we retain Stark or not is immaterial at this point. Without control of his AI he’s not all that useful.”

                Loki chuckled. “Point taken.” At that, Darcy heard Pepper turn away and start talking to the others about Tony being on his way. But she remained riveted to the screen as Loki continued speaking. “You know, you’re starting to sound more like Lorelei the longer we engage in this little scheme.”

                “You forget, Silvertongue, that my little sister learned how to scheme from me. I do wonder sometimes why you did not ally with her. After all, gaining power over men is her specialty.”

                He reclined on the couch again, this time fortunately without using an Avenger for a footstool. “You forget that Lorelei is as much a prisoner as I was. She could do nothing for me. You, on the other hand, have always been clever enough to never get caught. That and your desires have never been quite as…grandiose as Lorelei’s.”

                “Why make war when you can make love?” Amora purred, stroking Thor’s chest in a way that made Darcy feel ill. She was really glad Jane wasn’t watching this. “Besides, Lorelei’s always felt inferior to me. I am the more gifted sorceress out of the two of us, as well as the more appealing one to men. She developed her little trick to get some attention for herself, and when that didn’t satisfy her ego she decided to she needed her own empire. Pathetic. She’s no better than that so-called ‘Lady’ Sif or your pet spider. A woman shouldn’t need to get her hands dirty to get what she wants.”

                “And yet she succeeded in bedding Thor where all your wiles have failed,” Loki said slyly, and the Enchantress’s scowl deepened.

                “It matters not. He’s mine now.” She reached up to pull Thor down for a kiss and Darcy had to turn away. Hot as Thor was, it felt wrong now to see him kiss anyone other than Jane. She looked back when Amora spoke again. “And if discretion is what you wanted, you were wise to choose me. Aside from you and the AllFather, I am the only magician in all of Asgard strong enough to blind Heimdall himself.”

                Now that was interesting news. It explained why Asgard hadn’t sent anyone to help. It also meant that this Enchantress was definitely no pushover. For the first time, Darcy started to question if they could actually do this.

                “Anything?” Darcy turned to see Natasha behind her this time.

                “Yeah, I’ve got something.” She quickly summarized the conversation for the Black Widow. “How do we stop someone that strong?”

                “We stopped Loki before, and in my mind he’s much more dangerous than this woman. We’ll figure out something.”

                Amora’s nickname for Natasha stuck in Darcy’s brain for some reason. “She called you Loki’s ‘pet spider.’ What’s up with that?”

                Natasha’s face instantly went blank. Darcy normally had trouble reading her, but now it was damn near impossible. “I don’t know.”

                Okay, even Darcy could tell that was a lie. She opened her mouth to question Natasha further, only to be immediately cut off by Pepper’s triumphant shout.

                “We’ve got him!”


	15. The Guinea Pig

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everybody! Sorry again for the long dry spell, but my life's been kind of insane these past few months. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

                Pepper stood outside the house, heart in her throat, as the roar of Rhodey and Tony’s rockets grew closer.  She was flanked by Hill and Natasha, with Jane and Betty behind them.  Darcy was still inside the garage with Harley, the two of them assigned to watch JARVIS’ feeds for any sign that their enemies knew what was going on. 

                Natasha’s plan to snag Tony by tricking him into his suit and luring him away from the Tower had worked perfectly.  With her override of JARVIS, Pepper was now the one in control of the suit.  The problem was what would happen when Tony was no longer inside it, and that was what they were going to try to figure out.

                As the suits roared into view, Pepper felt Betty’s hand on her shoulder.  “It’ll be okay, Pepper.  Just talk to him and see what happens.”  Pepper swallowed.  That was Hypothesis #1 of Betty and Jane’s How-To-Break-Amora’s-Spell experiment.  None of them had gotten the chance to try to talk sense into the boys before, so it might be that they just needed a reminder of who they were and what exactly was happening to them. 

                Pepper doubted it would work.  From the looks Hill and Natasha had exchanged when it was first proposed, she wasn’t the only one.  But she would try anything to get her Tony back.

                The Iron Man and War Machine armors landed a few feet in front of them.  Rhodey unlocked his armor and stepped out first.  He was dressed in sturdy, practical clothes, much like Pepper herself was, and was wearing his sidearm.  Pepper couldn’t help herself—she went straight to him and hugged him.  He hugged her back instantly tightly.  “You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now,” she said.

                Rhodey pulled back and looked at her with concern.  “You sure you want to try this now?  He’s really not himself, Pepper.  Like, scaring-the-crap-out-of-me not-himself.”

                Her throat tightened.  If Rhodey was this bothered…no.  She was going to see this through.  Tony hadn’t broken down after he’d seen Killian put Extremis inside of her.  Seeing him under Amora’s spell wasn’t going to be any different.  “I have to try, James.  I need to save him.”

                Rhodey nodded in understanding and copied Natasha and Hill in moving to intercept Tony when he came out of his suit.  Pepper moved back to stand with Betty and Jane, putting on the headset Harley had given her that connected to his link with JARVIS.  When Natasha signaled that they were ready, she spoke into the headset.  “JARVIS, let him out.”

                The suit had no sooner opened than Tony sprang from it, fists swinging.  Fortunately, while Tony had been trained in multiple forms of self-defense, particularly since Afghanistan, he was up against a trained soldier, a high-ranking secret agent, and the Black Widow.  As much as it hurt Pepper to watch, the three of them easily subdued him with minimal damage, restraining him using a pair of handcuffs that Natasha had taken from the Quinjet.  Rhodey then held onto him for extra measure, even as Tony struggled mightily to get lose, cursing all the while.  “Damn you, you backstabbing son of a bitch! What happened to bros before hos, huh Rhodes?”

                “I was going to ask you the same question, Tony,” Rhodey said, holding firm.  “What’s gotten into you, man?”

                A glance from Natasha and a quick squeeze of her hand from Betty encouraged Pepper to join in.  “Tony, please, this isn’t you.”

                His eyes focused intently on her, and it was all she could do not to stagger back under the force of the disdain in his eyes.  “There’s nothing wrong with me.  No, for the first time, everything is finally right.  I finally found someone who can accept me for who I am.” 

                She did recoil at that.  Tony could have slapped her and it would have hurt less.  “Tony, what are you-”

                “Amora loves my suits.”  He chuckled.  “In fact, they’re the biggest reason that she loves me.” His eyes took on a dreamy cast which Pepper had only ever seen when he talked about how much he loved her.  “She thinks I should make as many as I want, create an entire army of them again.  And she would never make me destroy them.”

                Slap. Slap.  Slap.  It was all she could do to keep her voice steady, to blink back the tears from her eyes.  “She loves the suits, yes, but she doesn’t love you, Tony.  I do.”

                Tony’s dreamy look turned to anger in a blink. “Then why do you try to keep me from being who I really am?  I am Iron Man, remember?  The suits are me and I am the suits.”

                “You don’t need them to be Iron Man.  You told me that yourself.”

                “But I need them to help Amora!”

                “Why?  Tony, can’t you see she’s using you?”

                “If I help her, she’ll love me.”  Pepper knew that tone.  Tony used it when he was trying to convince himself of something.  “She’ll have to.  She’ll see that I can give her something Thor can’t.” She heard Jane give a little whimper behind her at the mention of Thor’s name.

                “She never will, Tony.  And I think you know that.”  She knew him too well, no matter how much it hurt.  “You know she’s using you, that she doesn’t love you.”

                “But I love her! And that’s all that matters.  Nothing else does.  Not the company.  Not the Avengers.”  He smirked, the cruelest smirk she’d ever seen on his face.  “And definitely not you.”

                She felt as though someone had just stabbed her in the heart, and the pain rivaled even that of Extremis.  She couldn’t suppress the cry that tore from her throat.  Betty and Jane were at her side in an instant, their expressions mirroring the pain on Rhodey’s face.  “Okay, that’s enough,” Betty said quickly, squeezing Pepper’s hand.

                Natasha and Hill had stood by in case Tony had broken loose, their faces inscrutable throughout.  Now Hill suddenly moved to stand in front of Tony.  “Okay, Number One is out.  Time to test Number Two.”  She drew her sidearm, flipped it so she was holding the barrel, and used it to strike the side of Tony’s head, hard.  He slumped in Rhodey’s arms, out cold.

                Pepper could only stare at her in shock as Hill turned to face them, as did the others except Natasha, whose face remained a cold mask.  She gave Pepper an apologetic smile.  “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

                Before anyone could reply, Harley came careening out of the garage.  “Guys, guys!”  He paused when he took them in.  “Oh my God, Tony! Is he okay?”

                Pepper felt too numb to speak.  Fortunately, Natasha finally broke her silence.  “He’ll be okay, he’s just been cognitively recalibrated.”

                “Huh?”

                “Hit really hard in the head.”  That was Jane.  “What is it, Harley?”

                “Oh, right! Uh, they know.”

                That got Pepper’s attention.  “Who knows what?”

                “The bad guys.  They know we have Tony.” Harley swallowed.  “And they know where we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Melinda May and Teddy Altman! (I promise!!!)


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